2023 Tournament Preview (Week 2+)

Here is my final Tournament Preview article. It will cover week two, week three and a couple of others just for grins. I will do my best to include all of the tournaments without an update this time.

We have 37 teams in Region X and we’ll have 31 playing that second weekend in a tournament. The programs that will not are Caltech, Occidental, Howard Payne, UT-Dallas and Centenary. Kind of weird that UTD is taking the weekend off but they will play weekend three in a tournament so maybe that’s the reason. Most schools will not be playing in a tournament week three as the NWC and ASC start play. I wasn’t too thorough after week three but I do have a couple that UC Santa Cruz will be doing. Here are the tournaments:

Week 2

East/West Challenge (Host CMS)

Cal Lutheran, CMS, Colorado College, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Trinity, Tufts and WashU

Best tournament of the year? Every year? Six of these eight teams made the NCAA Tournament last season with two making the Elite 8. Only Colorado College wasn’t regionally ranked but their Tournament tradition can only be matched by maybe one or two other teams nationally. They split these teams up in fours so you really have two pods with no cross play although isn’t that a fine idea? Top two teams play in a final? I’m sure travel would be a problem and coaches aren’t thrilled with 4-match weekends typically. Still, that would be the cherry on this delicious sundae.

ETBU Classic (Host ETBU)

Belhaven, Dallas, ETBU, Hardin-Simmons, Hendrix, Millsaps, St Thomas and Whitman

I don’t remember this many tournaments at schools that typically haven’t had them in the past. Kind of cool but I’m sure it messes up other schools and their schedules. We’ve got three Region X conferences represented in this one with three additional schools one-state over making the drive. ETBU and St Thomas are probably the class in this one based on last year’s results. Hendrix is typically very good so it will be interesting to see how they do against this competition. If you are counting at home, that’s two flights for Whitman this year, which is great to see. I will say that if any of these schools have designs on an at-large bid this year then they need to go undefeated here.

Oregon Trail Classic (Hosts Lewis & Clark and Pacific)

George Fox, Lewis & Clark, Linfield, Loras, McMurry, Pacific, Schreiner, Wells College, West Coast Baptist and Willamette

This tournament is really the week two answer to the PCC down in SoCal week one. You have the Oregon schools here trying to get a bunch of teams in to join them. The problem, of course, is that you don’t have CMS headlining it and the Oregon schools don’t have the reputation that the SCIAC schools do. Still, not a bad group here. Loras is usually pretty good although they are coming off an 8-win season. Overall, a group of schools that will be pretty competitive in each match. Like the ETBU tournament, if a team wants an at-large bid, they need to come out of this undefeated.

Rhodes Tournament (Host Rhodes)

Austin College, Bethel (TN), Bethesda University, Lyon College, Mary Hardin-Baylor and Rhodes

Lyon is transitioning to DIII, Bethel (TN) is NAIA and Bethesda is NCCAA. Rhodes won 9 matches last year and Austin College was a 0.500 team so the class here should be UMHB. Bethesda is listed on the Austin College schedule but it’s a strange tournament for them to attend. Less said about this one, the better.

Smith Tournament (Host Smith)

Lasell, Redlands, Smith and Westfield State

Interesting that we have another New England Tournament but kudos to Redlands for making the trip. Smith was regionally ranked last year so a great test for the Bulldogs. Actually, all of the schools will be a good test and they should have a good bonding experience for the team. Again, the entire Region is behind you on this one.

Southwestern Tournament (Host Southwestern)

Aurora, Concordia, LeTourneau, Puget Sound, Southwestern and Texas Lutheran

Little known fact that only I would know…Southwestern plays Aurora every year! At least it seems that way as they have both met up at two different tournaments recently. Hopefully, this time around, my Pirates can get the win. We’ve got three Region X conferences represented as Puget Sound makes the flight down south. A couple of good schools from the ASC along with Southwestern and then throw in NWC co-champs (Puget Sound) and SCAC Tournament champs and we have a good one. It’s not often you get a smaller tournament with three teams that made the NCAA Tournament the season before. These matches will be huge for the regional rankings.

Whittier Invite (Host Whittier and La Verne)

Chapman, La Verne, Pacific Lutheran, Pomona-Pitzer, UC Santa Cruz, Whittier and Whitworth

This is really a SCIAC/NWC Challenge with a dash of Slugs. Three schools regionally ranked (one tournament team) and that’s what will be important in this one; the rankings. If you want to distance yourself then coming out without a loss will be huge. Remember my advice, you can’t gain an at-large bid the first couple of weeks but you can lose them. Unfortunately, when you put regional teams in tournaments like this one (and at Southwestern), there will be a number of teams that will lose them.

Week 3

Cal Lu Fornia Invite (Host Cal Lutheran)

Cal Lutheran, Chapman, Chicago, CMS, Juniata, La Verne, St Thomas, Texas Lutheran, UC Santa Cruz and UT-Dallas

Another tournament with three Region X conferences represented but the story here is that the defending national champions (Juniata) will be in the gym. I’m a little sad they won’t play CMS but all of these matches will be fun to watch. (Update – WHOOPS! They do play. How fun will that be?!?) We’ve got six NCAA Tournament teams in this one so it really does give the East/West Challenge a run for their money as one of the best tournaments this year. I haven’t even mentioned Chicago who always seems to be really good and that continued last season. A rare tournament that is important on the regional level and the national level.

Hendrix Tournament (Host Hendrix)

Centenary, Hendrix, Lyon and Mary Hardin-Baylor

Strange tournaments for UMHB to play in this season, but I won’t go there here. This will be a really good test for Centenary as both UMHB and Hendrix will expect to get victories over the Ladies.

Millsaps Tournament (Host Millsaps)

Belhaven, Dallas, Huntingdon and Millsaps

It will never stop shocking me that Huntingdon won 28 matches last season. These are good schools for Dallas to be playing and the hope here is to bring back some wins. Again, the region is behind you.

Oberlin Tournament (Host Oberlin)

Caltech, Oberlin, St Vincent and Wooster

Fun tournament for Caltech to attend and a great opportunity to take home three wins when the other teams think they’ve got the result before the first serve. St Vincent had 17-wins last year while the other two teams had 7 each. The region is behind you.

Trinity Tournament (Host Trinity)

Franklin & Marshall, MIT, Pomona-Pitzer, Southwestern, Trinity and Whittier

Pomona-Pitzer and Whittier will fly in from the coast and get some good matches in. Kind of weird that Pomona will be playing Southwestern a second time. My Pirates actually only get to play the two SCIAC teams, which is sad to me, but they obviously have regional implications. F&M and MIT are both great teams to bring in. Both are typically regionally ranked and MIT was the top team in their region last year and the sacrificial New England team in the Elite 8. Expect Trinity to be a very rude host in this one.

Other Weeks

I should point out that I’m going to miss some tournaments here. We also have cases where a team plays a couple of out-of-conference teams one weekend but it doesn’t look like a tournament. UC Santa Cruz will also make a New England trip but they are playing at three different away locations so not a tournament. Actually, something even more challenging!

C2C Invitational (Host UC Santa Cruz on October 6)

Christopher Newport, Colorado College, Mary Washington and UC Santa Cruz

Another fun one at Santa Cruz. The MidCal capitol, some would say. Three of the four were Tournament teams and the fourth is CC. A mini-East/West Challenge that should help all four teams when it comes to strength of schedule.

Calvin Tournament (Host Calvin on October 20)

Calvin, Hope, Millikin and UC Santa Cruz

Yeah, the Slugs are showing that you how to schedule tough this season. Hope was an Elite 8 team last year and Calvin is always Calvin. Millikin was also really good in a tough region. Lots of challenges for the Slugs and they will be fun to watch to see how they come out. Side note to the Region X teams that will play UCSC this year. Do you see the national powers that they will play? These are common opponents if you can get the win and that’s one of the reasons why the entire region is behind teams that play in tournaments like this.

Lots of fun tournaments during the year. UC Santa Cruz really is doing the best they can being in a conference where you don’t play a conference schedule. You have to respect that. I still like the East/West Challenge but that Cal Lutheran tournament is almost as good. A couple of really fun tournaments that will shape our regional rankings this year, too. I’m sure I left off at least one tournament but only my (hot) wife says I’m perfect. I hope to be at a couple of these this year so say hello if our paths cross. Tall goofy looking guy with a yellow Southwestern hat on. Not many of me out there.